Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, by Ori and Rom Brafman (again!)

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Dan Pink (watch this sketchcast!)

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Dan and Chip Heath

Ori and the Heath Brothers have been on Yi-Tan before. These authors are all drawing on recent research in sociology, psychology, anthropology, neuroimaging (fMRIs), plus the disciplines of behavioral economics, neuroeconomics, influence, positive psychology and several soon-to-be-named fields.

Together, let’s discuss:

What do these books collectively tell us about human nature? about systems design?

What does this work mean for our future as customers? as citizens?

Can we weave a coherent narrative through these books? Do they build on one another or not?

Facebook keeps pushing the envelope. Love ’em or hate ’em, you have to admire their chutzpah, agility and strategic brains.

The company’s privacy adventures are already the stuff of legend and infographic, with some framing Facebook itself as the most ambitious phishing scheme ever and others starting a “leave Facebook movement” that hasn’t really caught fire. Ah, the excitement.

Between opening up everyone’s data (the Open Graph) and crafty features such as the “Like” button, Facebook is trying to make itself a permanent part of the tech infrastructure. Maybe we should watch the movie or read the book.

We haven’t done a Speed Round call in a long time, so let’s have a quick, broad conversation on a series of topics that are top of mind these days, such as the effects of the Gulf oil spill, Facebook’s privacy (mis)adventures, the iPad’s repercussions, a flurry of Android phones (and more!) and Venter’s artificial critter (ok, not quite a critter yet).